Cross- cultural teambuilding

1. Cross-culturalteambuilding

2. Guessflags! Once upon a time…. Whatisyourflaghistory?

3. Culturesrepresentedhere:albaniaarmeniabosnia erzegovina bulgariajordanitalylebanon moldovanigerserbia Guess Flags!

4. prejudice refers to prejudgment, or forming an opinion before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case. The word is often used to refer to preconceived judgments toward people or a person because of gender, political opinion, social class, age, disability, language, nationality or other personal characteristics. In this case, it refers to a positive or negative evaluation of another person based on their perceived group membership.Prejudice can also refer to unfounded beliefsand may include any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence

5. stereotype is a thought that may be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things. These thoughts or beliefs may or may not accurately reflect reality. a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group: The cowboy and Indian are American stereotypes.

6. Definition I • groupwork = teamwork • A team is a group which works on a clear defined task. A team can manage a whole project or only part of it. Teams exist for a special task-orientated reason and their existence is limited to the fulfilment of the task.

7. Definition II there are two kinds of groupwork to distinguish: • 1. formal group (which was founded on organisational composition) • 2. informal group • (which is formed through personal wishes • and sympathy)

8. Types of Teams • 1. Traditional work groups (Natural work groups) 2. Impromptu short-term teams (Swat teams) 3. Special purpose teams (project teams) 4. Cross-functional teams 5. Self-managed teams (“direct team”)

9. Stages of Group Development • 1. Forming • -getting to know each other and testing • 2. Storming • -group structure begins to emerge 3. Norming-developing cohesion 4. Performing-working structure

10. 1. Status structure - a relative andvaluedpositionof a memberinsidethegroup- mediator in a communicationprocess Social Group Structure I M5 M1 M2 M3 M4 M2 M4 M1 M1 M4 M5 M2 M3 M3 M5 Chain Circle Y

11. 3. Leadership- formed informally lead back on behavioural attributes Social Group Structure II • 2. Rolestructure- givesinformationaboutthe • behaviourandtheexpectationsofthebehaviour

12. the number of team members should depend on the tasks which have to be solved Group Composition I • Group Sizesmallteam (3-5 members)bigteam (8-12 members)

13. Redl´s law of optimum distance: “homogeneous enough to ensure stability and heterogeneous enough to ensure vitality” (?????) Group Composition II • homogeneity & heterogeneity - homogeneity is needed to develop group cohesion- heterogeneity is necessary to produce the potential for change in a group

14. Behavioural attributes: these refer to the way in which individuals behave, the personality, attitudes and life- styles (talkative vs. quiet, dominant vs. submissive) Group Composition III • Descriptive attributes: - Age - Gender - Race and ethnicity - Social class

15. “diversity can best be described in terms of differences from the accepted mainstream population” Myers, S.:Team Building For Diverse Work Groups, p.8 WorkforceDiversity Definition of Diversity Mark M. Deresky, „Managing in a Diverse Workforce“, MBA paper, West Florida Universuty (Spring 1994) National origin Language Religion Gender Culture Family situation Race Age Physical ability Sexual orientation Marital status Socio-economic status

16. Cohesion through trust, openness and diversity Aimsof Group Composition • the goal is to create a workplace in which individuals are not limited by traditional barriers, stereotypes and restrictions

17. Cultural diversity... ...canhave positive as well as negative impactson a team. + a well managed diverse teamaugmentsthe potential productivitybecausemany different ideasandperspectivesconcerning a specialsituationplay a role - cultural diversity increases the complexity of the whole process and can therefore lead to difficulties in integrating and evaluating the various perspectives

18. Disadvantages I • Differences in language • Differences in communication • Differences in management styles • Differences in norms, behaviour • stereotyping/ prejudices personality conflicts, mistrust

19. Disadvantages II • greater complexity  problems in reaching agreements, the decision-making process is influenced in a negative way • lack of trust, communication inaccuracies  stress, tension •  decreased effectiveness

20. Advantages • sharing technology • sharing skills and talents • sharing experiences • opportunity for cross-cultural understanding • limited “groupthink” • varied backgrounds exposure to different viewpoints and alternatives  more and better ideas  higher productivity

21. Whendoesdiversitybecomemostvaluable? • When the need for agreement remains low and relatively high need for creativity is required, that means when an organisation wants to launch a new product, create new ideas or develop a new marketing plan from a new perspective, diversity becomes most valuable. • Diversitycanleadtobettercustomerrelationshipbecause different marketissuesarehandledfrom different pointsofview; customersareseenmoreindividuallyandcanthereforebetreatedmoreappropriately.

22. Team effectiveness from: N.Adler: International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, p. 137

23. Team effectiveness “When well managed, diversity becomes an asset and productive resource for the team. When ignored, diversity causes process problems that diminish the team’s productivity. Since diversity is more frequently ignored than well managed, culturally diverse teams often perform below expectations and below organisational norms.” N.Adler: International DimensionsofOrganizationalBehavior, p. 138

25. Synergy “The combinedeffectoftwoormorethings, processes, etcthatexceedsthesumoftheir individual effects: thesynergyachievedbymergingtwocompanies“ [Oxford AdvancedLearner’sDictionary]

26. Synergy “The synergy approach assumes that we are not all the same – that the various groups within society differ and that each maintains its cultural distinctness. Appreciating a pluralistic, rather than a homogeneous, society underlies the synergy approach. Whereas the most commonly held assumption is that similarities among people are most important, cultural synergy assumes that similarities and differences share equal importance.” N.Adler: International DimensionsofOrganizationalBehavior, p. 107  Cultural diversityshouldbeseenandtreatedasa resource!

27. Synergy David Kearns, chairman of Xerox: “We have to manage diversity right now and much more so in the future. American business will not be able to survive if we do not have a large, diverse workforce, because those are the demographics.” Deresky, H.:Managing Human Resources Around the World, p. 446 If a companywantstodevelopnewmarketsandmergewithothercompanies, ithastobeableto deal withdifferencesanddiversity!

28. Managing culturaldiversity Diversity Management is an instrumentwhichdescribes all measuresthatleadtotherecognitionofdifferencesandwhichmakessurethatthosedifferencesaregettinghighlyvalued. Thosemeasuresshouldpoint out thatdiversitycanhave a positive impact on thecompany.

29. Managing culturaldiversity • Task-related selection • Recognition of differences • A vision or superordinate goal • Equal power • Mutual respect • Feedback

30. Managing culturaldiversity Task-related selection To maximise team effectiveness, members should be selected to homogeneous in ability levels and heterogeneous in attitudes

31. Managing culturaldiversity Recognition of differences Teams cannot begin to communicate without first recognising and then understanding and respecting cross-cultural differences

32. Managing culturaldiversity A vision or superordinate goal Members of diverse teamsgenerallyhavemoretroubleagreeing on theirpurposeandtaskthan do membersofhomogeneousteams

33. Managing culturaldiversity Equal Power Team leadersshoulddistribute power accordingtoeachmember‘sability, not accordingto relative culturalsuperiority

34. Managing culturaldiversity Mutual Respect Mutual respectcanbeimprovedbyselectingmembersofequalabilityandbymakingprioraccomplishmentsandtask-relatedskillsknownto all members

35. Managing culturaldiversity Feedback Managers shouldgiveteams positive feedback - bothasindividualsandas a team - early in theteam‘slifetogether Positive externalfeedback (givenby a managerwhois not in theteam) generallyhelpstheteamtoviewingitselfas a team

36. Managing culturaldiversity The MBI (Mapping, Bridging, Integrating)Model of Managing Cultural Diversityfor Personal and Team Effectiveness Map Under-stand thediffer-ences Bridge Commu-nicate across the differ-ences Inte-grate Manage thediffer-ences Value andutilisethediffer-ences

37. Managing culturaldiversity COF - The Cultural Orientation Framework Map Under-stand the differ-ences 1) Relation to nature 2) Relationships among people 3) Mode of human activity 4) Belief about basic human nature 5) Orientation to time 6) Use of space

38. Managing culturaldiversity 3 important skills to effective communication in a cross-cultural setting Bridge Commu-nicate across the differ-ences 1) Prepare 2) De-center 3) Re-center

39. Managing culturaldiversity 3 main integration skills Inte-grate Manage the differ-ences 1) Building participation 2) Resolving conflicts 3) Building on ideas